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Pandering to the lowest common denominator

Some celebrities are full of praise for Bermuda for allowing them to escape the hordes of paparazzi and get on with their lives relatively unnoticed. That is until now!

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The two-hour cruise – which usually departs three times a day -takes up to 70 people as close as they can get to the mansions of the filthy rich

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You’ll start to get stalker tendencies as you get so close to these properties that you are practically peering into their back yards.

For those who believe that Bermuda tourism can be rejuvenated via exclusivity and prestige, this is horrifying. This is the absolute opposite direction for Bermuda tourism that we should be taking. We’re taking what little notion of exclusivity and prestige Bermuda once had and dragging it through the mud.

Mind you, we could look at the positives. We’ve doubled our local celebrity numbers with the addition of the Uighars. Hopefully their home is also included on the tour as they’re certainly famous enough to not deserve any right to actual privacy, right? Oh, and don’t forget the Premier as we certainly should be getting our money’s worth out of the fencing and guard hut he put up.

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5 thoughts on “Pandering to the lowest common denominator”

Denis,
I could not agree more! Anything to make a buck, but in the end, some of the Rich & Famous may well reconsider their relationship with Bermuda and Bermudians. After all, they can just stay in Hollywood and have their homes and privacy on the daily bus/limo tours.
We reap what we sew!

How much does he charge per person? Must be extreme becuase very few would venture a tour like this.
Get real guys..the guys making a living and is very knowledgable. You of all people should know this Dennis…he’s your cousin.
Ah the days of Victor O’Connor giving tours, bare footed with a dark and stormy in his hand and then invite guests in to sample lunch of curried lobster, conch and left overs of Bertha’s peas and rice.
Sey La Vey…
Oh thats right..Im not posting here…….

I tell you what, the operators stand to make some serious money off of this venture. Yep, it’s not a high-end tourism product by any means and it’ll probably turn off any other celebrities from considering purchasing property here. But I suppose it’s good for at least one batch of tour operators who feared going out of business with the current offerings available for visitors.

Rummy,
I don’t have an issue with him taking advantage of the type of tourists we’ve attracted. I have an issue with the fact that we’ve lowered ourselves to attracting these kinds of tourists.
The kind of tourists we should be attracting are those that go for privacy, anonymity, prestige and exclusivity. They’re the ones that spend big bucks for very little impact, contribute the most and have the highest prospect of providing good jobs for Bermudians. This in contrast to those who spend very little and yet must be herded in volume around the island like cattle. The ones who we subsequently have to bring in tons of cheap foreign labor to be able to effectively serve them in volume because profitability levels are not high enough for Bermudians to be paid decent enough wages.
The kind of tourists we want are those who will be listening when the likes of our local rich and famous complain about how Bermuda used to be a paradise where the likes of Michael Douglas was still anonymous enough to get carded when buying liquor and was generally unbothered. Now he’ll have to worry that 3 times a day he’ll have huge herds of camera wielding people cruising close to his property to snap shots and ruin any chance of privacy he had. This when there are also thousands of discount tourists roaming our streets hoping to spot him and any other local celebrities that have fame beyond our shores. This is not the kind of publicity we want. It’s guaranteed to push what little respect our island had as a ‘gold standard’ destination to the pits.

Spot on Dennis. Bottom paint will help with the barnicles that prolong speed and indurance over the water.
We need to stay afloat. Urgent care is great, sustained care is part of the programe. We need theat.